"Yours are the only emails I actually open and read" - a regular reply in my inbox since 2009...and I'll bet in yours, too, once you subscribe and learn by pure, lazy osmosis to become the most compelling writer around. That said, no promises on improving your moral character.
My friend actually said this to someone’s face
|
I went to the beach with my friend Dana this Sunday. And did we need it! We were both exhausted from rooting for the Knicks the night before. I’m still sore: this final game (thank the lord), I watched in real time with my body tensed up like I was on a nosediving plane with flight attendants yelling “BRACE!” I digress. Dana ran into a friend in the parking lot. She always does — she knows everyone. As the friend walked over from her own car, Dana said “Oh my god, you’re so skinny! Laura, this is Carly. Wait, Carly, you’re tiny! What jab are you on?” Carly looked startled. “Jab?” “Yeah, GLP!” Dana made an injection gesture with her fist and thumb. “I’ve been on one all year.” She lifted her beach cover-up to show a small bruise on her abdomen. Carly looked like Dana had asked “What shape is your bush” or demanded to know her net worth. “Oh my gosh, I’ve never talked about that.” “Why?” Dana pulled the umbrella out of the back. “Everyone’s on one. Literally everyone!” (I’m not, but didn’t say so. I don’t judge and was enjoying the conversation.) “Anyway, you’re tiny. You already were! How much weight have you lost?” Carly said she’d lost twenty pounds so far. Dana said same, “but you can’t tell because I’m a moose.” This was the first time I interjected. “No, you’re a gorgeous six-foot-tall model.” Carly loosened up a bit. Said she wanted to lose another ten. Dana did too, and said she was going to up her dose. They compared dosages (Carly: 2.5 every other week, Dana: 10), and brands (both: Zepbound). Before going her separate way, Carly shook her head in amazement and repeated, “I swear, no one I know talks about this.” Dana said, “I tell everyone! Why hide it?” I’m with Dana on this one. Why hide it? Not just your GLP-1 brand when you’re chatting in a parking lot. (I know it’s personal, but would you hide, say, what antibiotics you’re on after a tick bite? Why stigmatize a jab?) I mean that instinct to clutch one’s pearls (*gasp* “My stars!”) and treat perfectly normal, human things like classified information. It shows up everywhere, but nowhere more than in people's emails. People sit on stories, opinions, hot takes — leaving the good stuff out, thinking someone will judge. That someone will unsubscribe because they're offended or, maybe worse, because they don't care. I myself hesitate with a story like this because I know someone's going to write back, “GLP-1s are dangerous!” Or “I hate this conversation! Normalize real women's bodies!” Feh. Worth it. Because this kind of real talk — the stuff you're not “supposed to” say — is exactly what we're drawn to. It's what stands out, builds trust, gives permission in the form of: Wait, you can say that? In a professional email? And it's what sells. That’s what I’ll be talking about in my free live class… GET PAID TO BE YOU Grab your seat here and prepare to crank up the dosage of YOU in everything you share. Me, I’ll be sharing my best stuff. Why hide it? xoLaura Love Shrimp Mail? Forward this to a friend so they can get in on the action and sign up below.
Thank you for reading and sharing, |
Laura Belgray (Talking Shrimp)
"Yours are the only emails I actually open and read" - a regular reply in my inbox since 2009...and I'll bet in yours, too, once you subscribe and learn by pure, lazy osmosis to become the most compelling writer around. That said, no promises on improving your moral character.
Last fall, I got a subscriber email from my friend (and Shrimp Club alum) Frenchie Ferenczi. Subject line: I’ve gone woo(ish). She wrote about a spiritual teacher who was helping her connect to her intuition and let it guide her business. She had me at woo(ish). That’s me — or was. I even coined a term for it years ago: “Woo-Adjacent.” Wrote a manifesto and everything. In a nutshell, I think most of the spiritual industry reeks of bullshit, but I do love a good psychic or astrology reading....
Hey! Have you signed up yet for my free class TOMORROW Get Paid To Be You? How to cash in on your voice, personality and realness with EMAILS THAT SELL? If not, sign up here. Heads up: if you’re there or catch the replay, you might notice something’s different. Haircut? Facial? Nope — just my energy. {*Cue wind chimes*} Last fall, I got a subscriber email from my friend (and Shrimp Club alum) Frenchie Ferenczi. Subject line: I’ve gone woo(ish). She wrote about a spiritual teacher who was...
Hey! Just so you don’t think I’m trash-talking my friend Suzanne, she’d admit this herself: Her email game used to kind of…suck. First of all, because she barely wrote any. She had a dormant list of thousands of writers, and they almost never heard from her. Ugh, I can’t. Do you know how much it hurts me to see a wasted email list? It’s like watching someone let their sundae melt. Give it to me, then! (Except you can’t give someone your email list — illegal.) Suzanne had always counted on...